MONTEREY PARK, CA — With about nine weeks until the start of National Hockey League training camps, we’re into that dead period where hockey fans, already desperate for their hockey fix, are forced to choose between playing NHL2014 on their video game console, or watching replays of 2014 Stanley Cup Playoff games on their DVR or on the NHL Network multiple times each, even though they already know the outcome.

Of course, neither of those options are ever enough for hockey fans during this period that should be known as The Dreaded Lull.

Fortunately, there is another option.

Indeed, there are a number of good hockey books available, many about former NHL stars. But a recent book bucks that trend, Instead, it’s a novel about the game and time when the game was much simpler compared to what we see today on NHL ice.

The book explores the deep roots of Canada’s hockey obsession, which has become an integral part of the national mythology. Among the topics Kennedy takes up are the violence in the game, French-English rivalries, the modern definition of childhood, and Canada’s relationship with its closest neighbor, the United States. Read more of this post

MONTEREY PARK, CA — Here in the United States, especially for those of us who did not grow up in the Northeast, or in states like Minnesota, where kids have the opportunity to play hockey on a frozen pond, or where road hockey games have been popular for many, many years, that innocent and pure part of the game remains a mystery.

But in his new book, My Country Is Hockey: How Hockey Explains Canadian Culture, History, Politics, Heroes, French-English Rivalry and Who We Are As Canadians, Kennedy goes for the jugular in that regard, taking great pains to point out how hockey is inextricably intertwined with just about all things Canadian, heavily influencing Canadian thought, behavior, politics, and so much more, while also looking at how the purity and simple joy of the game is being lost. Read more of this post

The logos of the Los Angeles Kings, the 29 other National Hockey League teams, and of the National Hockey League, are trademarks of their respective rightsholders and are used with permission of the National Hockey League.